Grand Seiko SBGN003 Review: The Discontinued GMT Has A Successor

Japan’s Grand Seiko has become, in a relatively short span of time, one of the world’s most prestigious and collectible high-luxury watchmakers, competing for connoisseur attention and dollars with well-established maisons from Switzerland and Germany. And while its success is a 21st century phenomenon, Grand Seiko is not really a “new brand” in the strictest sense. The first Grand Seiko watch (below) debuted all the way back in 1960, part of the much larger product portfolio of Japanese watchmaking giant Seiko, which was founded in 1881 and achieved its worldwide fame by embracing the mass market with timepieces at accessible prices with wide distribution. The Grand Seiko, by contrast, was positioned as the megabrand’s exclusive “King of Watches,” with standards of accuracy, beauty, durability, and legibility that could meet or surpass its Swiss competitors. Today we'll take a look at the Grand Seiko SBGN003, a recently discontinued Quartz GMT that thankfully seems to have a solid heir apparent.

Until 2010, it was also Japan’s best-kept horological secret, not exported to markets outside the country. Seven years after its international expansion, having cultivated a loyal and avid audience worldwide, an entirely new and distinct customer base apart from mainline Seiko’s, Grand Seiko firmly established itself as an independent brand — albeit one still intrinsically tied to its parent company through shared history and technology. In fact, just about a decade after the first Grand Seiko watch hit the market, the firm that made it was at the vanguard of the 20th Century’s first major technical evolution in timekeeping. 

In 1969, Seiko introduced the original Quartz Astron and its groundbreaking Caliber 35A, now legendary as the first quartz-powered wristwatch on the market. Quartz movements differ from traditional mechanical ones (explained in great detail here) in that their energy comes from a tiny electrical charge generated by a battery rather than from a coiled mainspring and an escapement. The battery charge passes through an integrated circuit (IC) that applies it to a tiny quartz crystal cut into the shape of a tuning fork, causing it to vibrate at an incredibly high rate that dwarfs the output of a mechanical watch’s oscillator (32,768 times per second, as opposed to 3 or 4 times per second).

This impulse, in turn, powers a tiny motor that drives the second hand in one-second jumps rather than in a smooth, sweeping motion. Watches outfitted with this invention proved to be more energy-efficient, more accurate, more shock-resistant, and perhaps most momentously, much more affordable than their predecessors with mechanical movements. Seiko, and many of its competitors both inside and outside of Japan, still use quartz movements today in watches, mostly ones that are aimed at a lower price segment. However, Grand Seiko — which exclusively targets a higher-income customer base since its establishment as a semi-independent watchmaker — makes quartz movements that strive to be worthy of its higher price segments and luxurious branding. 

Caliber 9F to Caliber 9F86

The first quartz Caliber built specifically for Grand Seiko debuted in 1993, and it set new standards for durability, precision, and technical innovation that few other quartz movements could attain. Its special attributes included a Twin Pulse Control Motor that allow the minutes and seconds hand to extend to the edge of the dial for more precise timekeeping, a Backlash Auto-Adjust mechanism that eliminated shudder in the seconds hand, and a protective shield construction covering the gear train to prevent dust from entering. Ensuring that Caliber 9F was truly an in-house mechanism from start to finish, and securing the highest possible level of quality control, the quartz crystals for the movement’s oscillators are grown on the premises of Grand Seiko’s autoclaves, and then regulated individually by an integrated circuit adapted specifically for each crystal. Caliber 9F remains the go-to quartz movement for many of Grand Seiko’s time-and-date-only watches, and serves as the base for additional complications that followed.

One of the latter arrived to great fanfare in 2018, the 25th anniversary of the landmark Caliber 9F. Caliber 9F86 added a GMT complication to the base movement for the first time, all while maintaining all of the high-performance elements of the original caliber. Again, the watchmakers made subtle but significant technical adjustments to ensure smooth and user-friendly operation of not only the timekeeping but the added dual-time function. These included a redesign of the mainplate and gear train, and a new method of attaching the hands, with the added GMT hand mounted on an independent axis. Grand Seiko installed this movement, which boasted an annual precision rate of +/- 5 seconds, inside three watches in its tool-oriented Sport collection.

One was a limited edition (Ref. SBGN001) with a metallic charcoal dial, emblazoned with a textural pattern inspired by the traditional symbol for quartz, and an “AM/PM” outer rim with a contrasting yellow sector between 3 and 9 o’clock. The other two were Ref. SBGN005, with a blue dial and red GMT hand, and the model that became something of a cult favorite, Ref. SBGN003, with a black dial and an orange GMT hand. Despite these models not being released as limited editions — as was the case with the 800-piece Ref. SBGN001 — both of them have since been discontinued, and available only on the secondary market. In 2022, Grand Seiko released these models’ successors, with small but noteworthy changes: the fondly remembered SBGN003, for example, has given way to the newer SBGN027.

Grand Seiko SBGN003

Before getting into the current model, it’s worth delving a bit deeper into the original SBGN003. The watch’s stainless steel case measures 39mm in diameter and 12.1mm thick, with a lug-to-lug measurement of 46mm. The case is designed for ergonomics on the wrist and features the Japanese maison’s signature Zaratsu polishing for a distortion-free, mirrored finish on its surfaces. The same polishing enhances the three-link bracelet, which closes with a three-fold clasp. The screw-down crown at 3 o’clock, nestled between two shoulder-like protectors, aids in securing the case’s 100-meter water resistance, the baseline for the Grand Seiko Sport collection.

The deep black dial, under the dual-curved sapphire crystal, hosts a set of rectangular applied hour markers (thicker at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock) and the brand’s now-familiar “razor” shaped hour and minute hands; both the hour markers and these main hands are treated with LumiBrite, the proprietary luminous material used by Grand Seiko and its parent company, Seiko. Joining these sharply faceted main hands are a thin central seconds hand and the aforementioned orange-painted GMT hand, which features an arrow tip filled with Lumibrite. The “GMT” text near 6 o’clock is also in orange.

This fourth hand points to the time in a second time zone on the stationary bezel, whose engraved 12 engraved numerals and intermittent indexes, representing 24 hours, are filled with black enamel. The two-tone ring that surrounds the dial is divided into black and gray sectors, a relatively understated visual shorthand for the wearer to determine between AM and PM hours for the second time zone indicated by the GMT hand. The movement, which is ensconced behind a solid steel caseback, allows the main hour hand to be independently adjusted via the crown, enabling the user to easily change his or her local time without disturbing the timekeeping.

Grand Seiko SBGN027

In 2022, concurrently with the quiet phasing out of its first generation of quartz-powered GMT models — which included the SBGN003, SBGN005, and the limited-edition SBGN001, which almost assuredly was long sold-out by then — Grand Seiko welcomed the next generation, this time composed of just two models rather than three. One was the SBGN029, whose bright blue dial and red details (including the telltale GMT hand) made it something of a descendant to the SBGN005, and the more understated, austere SBGN027, the closest equivalent to the SBGN003, albeit with some rather noticeable changes.

At first glance, everything old is new again in these models: the stainless steel case still measures 39mm, with the emblematic Zaratsu-polished finish, and the case still houses the quartz GMT Caliber 9F86. According to Grand Seiko’s provided specs for the SBGN027, however, the company has managed to trim a bit from the case’s lug-to-lug (it’s listed as 45.8mm rather than 46mm) while also adding just a sliver of thickness (12.3mm as opposed to the former 12.1mm). Also changed is the placement of the screw-down crown, from 3:00 to 4:00, and the notable lack of crown guards surrounding it. The new crown positioning aligns with the movement of the date display, from its traditional 3 o’clock spot on the SBGN003 to the more unconventional 4:00 on the newer watch — both likely a result of a slight clockwise tilt of the movement.

Much more immediately apparent on the dial, and certainly the most controversial to fans of this watch’s predecessor, is the change in color of the central, arrow-tipped GMT hand, from blazing, high-contrast orange to a more understated white, which contributes to the model’s sleek, monochrome appeal but indisputably removes a colorful point of interest. The “GMT” notation on the dial is also in white, balancing and harmonizing with the applied “GS” and “Grand Seiko” logo at 12 o’clock. The two-tone AM/PM ring around the dial remains as a useful and non-intrusive aesthetic element, and the solid steel bezel still features the engraved, black enamel-filled numerals and markers that make this watch both stylish and utilitarian for its intended audience of cosmopolitan travelers. Not to be overlooked, the case of the SBGN027 is water resistant to 200 meters — double the depth rating of its predecessor — while the battery life of the elite quartz movement inside is a full three years. 

Will Grand Seiko eventually bring orange, and perhaps other colors, back into its lineup of quartz GMT Sport watches? It’s always unwise to say “never” in the world of watches, but until that moment arrives, fans of the SBGN003 should be prepared to spend around $2,400 - $2,800 (according to Chrono24) on the secondary market, which is actually a bit less than the $3,200 MSRP that accompanied the model when it was new. If you prefer the more streamlined look, quirkier crown placement, and greater water resistance of the SBGN027, a new one is priced at $3,600. You can learn more at grand-seiko.com